Appreciation
by BuggyNess
Summary: The battle of the Promised Day behind them, the brothers struggle with a new foe, one that they cannot fight with their fists. An exploration of what it means to appreciate your family. Short 2-3 chapter story in which Winry gets the flu.
1. Immune System

**6/29/14 A/N: I only meant this to be a drabble for "The Kids are All Right," but it just kept going and going as I wrote. I wanted to explore how the Resembool trio truly appreciated each other, especially in difficult times after the Promised Day. It will be short, only 2-3 chapters. **

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**Immune System**

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The slow days of fall bled into the even slower winter for Resembool. Red and orange hued leaves changed to deathly brown, withered and fell. The rolling green grass of summer transformed into bleak beige meadows anticipating the oncoming snows. Families prepared for the cold weather by canning the summer surplus and either smoking or freezing lamb and mutton raised the previous year. Stalwar's mercantile downtown carried all the canned and fresh produce they managed to import into the small burgh, but most folks took care of their own. The temperature had yet to fall cold enough to produce snow, but it still rained regardless, which spread a menacing chill that not even the toastiest iron stoves could stave away entirely.

Ed's automail port ached tremendously. Although snug and warm in the big yellow Rockbell house, the wet weather outside somehow managed to squirm its way deep into the hollows of his stump causing his bones to hurt and muscles to swell.

"Shit." He muttered and looked left then right, hoping Granny didn't hear him swear. Pinako's been taking twenty-five cenz from him every time he cursed and even though his cash was safely deposited monthly in the First Bank of Amestris, he couldn't get to it unless he traveled to East City, so the old woman kept a tally in a ledger book. He worried sometimes about the total.

"Your stump hurting, Brother?" Alphonse looked up from the alchemy book he was reading as he rested on the couch.

Since returning to Resembool the previous spring, all he could do was rest. Granny, Winry and Ed had the weakened boy on a strict physical therapy schedule so when he wasn't working on regaining muscle, he stayed exhausted. However, being sore and tired didn't keep him from noticing his brother hurt too. Alphonse closed his book and painfully raised his body up from the sofa and walked over to Edward who sat with his back to the black coal stove.

"Hey, you didn't use your crutch." Ed's eyes sparkled at his brother's achievement.

"Yeah, practicing getting around without it." The younger Elric smiled. "Look, I have a bicep, Brother!" He pushed back his long sleeve and flexed and the smallest bump appeared on his arm.

"Hard work will do that for you." Ed motioned to Al to sit in the wooden chair next to him. "Al, it's not even cold outside and this leg is killing me."

"I bet Granny has some medicine you could take. Want me to ask?" He grunted as he sat, still sore.

"Easy there, _Strong Arm_." Ed thought himself cleaver for comparing his scrawny brother to Alex Louis Armstrong. Al stuck his tongue out in protest to the reference. "Maybe tonight, if I can't sleep. The last time she gave me something, I got all foggy-headed...don't like that."

"Ah chew!" Winry waltzed in to the common room carrying a box of machine parts. She set them down on a chair and pulled a white hanky out of her work pants and blew her nose.

"Winry!" Ed yelled, annoyed she'd come in and spread her germs around Alphonse.

"Geesh, sorry. Just a sneeze." She tucked the hanky back into her pocket and picked up her box and trudged into the work shop, ignoring the boys.

"Ed, I think I'm out of the woods for getting sick. I exposed my self to a lot of people and germs this summer. Remember? I already had four colds so far." He smirked at his brother.

"Can't be too careful." Edward moved his sore leg closer to the stove and relished the relief the heat gave him.

* * *

Sunday supper consisted of fried chicken. One of their private brood sacrificed his or her lives so that Granny could roll it in egg and flour and fry it in hot oil until gloriously crunchy and golden. Canned green beans and mashed potatoes and chicken gravy rounded out the wonderful meal.

"Oh, this is so good!" Alphonse had had fried chicken a few times since coming home with his body restored, but eating became such a joy to him, especially when the food tasted so flavorful and good. He couldn't restrain his happiness and chewed each bite slowly to ensure he savored every last morsel. When he first ate with them, Granny, Winry and Ed were amused at his table behavior. But now used to it, they let him be to enjoy all the sensations of eating.

"Yeah, so good." Ed mumbled as he greedily shoveled mashed potatoes in his mouth. After warming up his leg this morning, he spent the day chopping wood and establishing a nice pile next to the house so they could easily get the fuel when the temperatures fell. All the hard work made him ravenous with hunger. However, despite the buttery, salty goodness gracing his tongue, he was pretty sure some milk or cream was used to make it. He only worried for a split second about the dairy crossing his lips and went right back into filling his mouth.

"It makes this old woman feel good to have two hard working boys enjoy her cooking!" Pinako took a corner of her apron and cleaned the fry grease from her eyeglasses then surveyed the young men stuffing their faces with her supper. "I wouldn't feed you so well if you didn't work hard around here, ya know." She didn't joke. Being lazy resulted in cold lamb sandwiches and although filling, they weren't as good as hot fried chicken and all the fixings. She noticed her granddaughter picking at her mashed potatoes. "Anything wrong with it, Winry?"

"She's crazy if she doesn't like it..." Ed piped in with a full mouth before the girl could respond. It earned him an angry eyebrow from the mechanic.

"No, it tastes as good as always...just, my stomach's a little upset." She continued to pick and sculpt the potatoes with her fork. "Ah chew!" Her sneeze broke the silence and she grabbed her hanky, turned away from the table and blew her nose.

"Winry!" Ed scolded her again for sneezing near his brother, but when he saw her nose was red, he started to wonder if she was getting a cold herself.

"It's ok, Brother." Al stopped eating long enough to protest Edward's over-protectiveness.

"If you're not feeling well, you can be excused, girl." Pinako wasn't worried. This damp weather bred colds and fevers. "Good thing I have a nice chicken carcass. I'll make you some broth from the bones and it'll make you right as rain." She continued to eat her meal as the mechanic got up and pushed her chair in.

"Thank's Granny." Winry began to pick up her plate to take to the sink but Alphonse interrupted.

"No. I'll get that, Winry." He put out a hand to stop her from taking the dirty dish.

"Al, it's my turn to do dishes tonight." She began to reel back for another sneeze and grabbed her handkerchief out in time to catch it.

"Hey!" Ed protested from behind a chicken leg.

"Shhhh Brother!" Al took the plate from the table and scraped its contents in the trash bin. "Winry, get upstairs and in bed. It's obvious that you're sick." He placed the dish in the sink and began running hot water to fill the basin.

"Ah, I'm not a baby. Just a cold, that's all." She wiped her red nose and drug herself upstairs in defeat.

"Keep those germs upstairs!" Ed yelled, mouth full of food.

"Brother!"

"All right, you two. I'm full. Better get those bones in some water for the broth." Pinako joined Alphonse at the counter, leaving Edward finishing off his meal.

* * *

Nighttime fell as usual, and despite the early onset of darkness, the rain failed to abate. Pinako excused herself to go to bed a while ago and the boy's hadn't seen hide nor hair of Winry since dinner. So, they settled into their late evening routine: washed up and pajama-fied, Ed and Al lay on their respective beds reading already read alchemy texts to each other and chatting.

"You shouldn't scold Winry so much, my immune system is getting really strong, Brother." Al's voice carried sleepiness from a day of hard therapy. "I've been eating lot's of local honey and drinking those terrible teas Mei Chang sent."

"She knows better, Al." Ed's bluntness signaled an end to this line of talk. "Huh?"

A sound carried into their room from the bathroom in the hallway. It was the loud and obviously painful moans and gurgles of retching. The boy's made yucky faces upon realization of this, but none-the-less slowly got up and listened at their door.

"I think that's Winry." Al scrunched his nose up at the horrible noise the small girl was making a few feet from them. "You'd, you'd better check on her."

"Me?" I don't want to be part of that!" Ed waived his hands. "You go!"

"Uh, me?" Al backed away. "No, no, I shouldn't be around those germs, remember?"

"Oh, NOW you're worried about getting sick." Ed pushed his brother out of the way and turned the knob to exit. "Wussy." He walked across the hall to the bathroom, his brother peering from their room. He gently knocked on the wooden door. "Winry?"

"Go away." She moaned.

"Um, just, just checking...can I get you anything?" He looked back at his brother and shrugged his shoulders. "Like a mop?" He whispered under his breath. Alphonse heard and snickered.

"Can you, can you go get Gran?"

"Sure." He turned to walk down the hallway to get Pinako. The sudden worried tone of her voice concerned the former alchemist but Winry was a Rockbell and she could still beat him to a pulp. The girl ate steel and crushed weaker men under her feet. He told himself this was just a stomach bug. Al suffered a few of them when he started eating solid food. Maybe Win just ate something bad? His worn knuckles rapt upon the old woman's door. "Granny?"

Soft house slipper covered footsteps carried toward the doorway and the small woman sleepily opened her door. "What's the matter?" She put on her glasses.

"Uh, Winry's in the bathroom throwing up." Ed thumbed over his shoulder. "She asked me to get you." He moved aside as the elderly woman deftly maneuvered the short distance to the bathroom. "Do you need me to help?" Pinako didn't answer but entered the bathroom and closed the door. Edward made his way back to his own doorway with Alphonse. After a few minutes, they heard the toilette flush, then running water in the sink. The door creaked open and Pinako's worried face poked out.

"Ed." The seriousness of the old woman startled both boys. "Get your brother downstairs. He's going to need to sleep in the patient room for a bit."

"What?" Ed questioned.

"Don't dawdle." Granny snapped. "Get him downstairs and I need you to bring back my bag, the big black one with medical supplies...and some water, lots of water. There's an empty pitcher in the cupboard." Ed just looked wide-eyed at his brother. "Are you dumb? Get moving!" Her anger startled the blond and he scurried downstairs, tugging his brother with him.

The boys made their way to the patient room adjacent to the kitchen, a room Ed last used when Hohenheim stayed at the house months earlier. He opened the door for Alphonse who entered.

"Do you think she's really sick?" Al couldn't hide his worry.

"It's probably a stomach virus Granny doesn't want you to catch...don't worry little brother." Ed smiled and pilfered through a bureau drawer, pulling out clean sheets. He tossed them at Al, the linen hitting the boy's face. "I'll leave you to it. Don't worry, we just don't want you catching this, ok?" His golden eyes searched his brother's, hoping Alphonse wasn't upset for being kept away.

"No, of course." Al's kind eyes reflected his understanding of the situation and that everyone just cared for his well being. "If I can do anything, let me know."

"I will, Al. Good night." Ed pulled the door closed. He made his way to the surgery room and found the big black doctor's bag that Pinako kept stocked in case she was needed by a family in the village. Picking it up, he marveled at its weight and that the tiny grandma could even carry it. Pinako was Rockbell, she spit fire and kicked ass. He was sure that's where she got the strength to carry the thing. Next, Edward searched several cupboards until he found the large glass pitcher, one they used in the summer to serve sweet tea and lemonade. Although the old lady didn't ask, he figured cold water would be better than tap so he opened the freezer and grabbed the icepick and began hacking away chunks of ice off the recently delivered block, filling a third of the pitcher. Soon, ice deliveries would stop, Winry was already blabbering on about installing a new "ice maker" in the electric refrigerator. He hoped she'd not blow the thing up. Making his way over to the sink, he filled the heavy glass up with water, bent down and picked up the black bag by it's worn wooden handle and carried both upstairs.

The sound of coughing assaulted the young man's ears as he rose to the top of the stairs. "Granny? Where to you want this?" He stood outside the open bathroom to see Winry slumped over the toilette dry heaving into the bowl. Pinako stood, holding her hair back and rubbing her back.

"Take it in her room and come back. She's going to need your help." She didn't look up from her granddaughter as she muttered the words.

Ed did as he was told and came back quickly. The girl lay with her head on the side of the seat, breathing heavily. Her blue eyes caught the young man's eyes, now wide with worry.

"Granny, Ed doesn't have to see this. It's gross!" Winry muttered as Pinako took a wet washcloth and wiped her mouth.

"Girl, can you even walk out of here?"

"Don't know." She took hold of the adjacent sink and tried to pull her body to standing and failed. "Nope."

"Edward, can you help her?" She motioned to the boy to assist and he came in, lacing his right arm under Winry's right shoulder and hoisting her to standing.

"One step at a time. 'kay?"

"Please, this is just a stomach thing...I'm fine." As she took her first step, Winry fell, but before she knew it, Ed swooped her up like she was a feather and carried her into the hallway and through her door then set her gently on her bed.

"Winry, you're burning up." He felt her forehead with the back of his right hand and remembered his mother taking his temperature the very same way at least hundreds of times when he was a little boy. "Granny, do you have anything in that for a fever?" He pointed to the black leather bag perched on the work desk.

"Let's see how hot this hot-head really is." Pinako chuckled and withdrew a mercury thermometer from her bag, she shook it violently and placed the tip in Winry's mouth and then monitored the wall clock.

"You really are a pain in the butt." Ed teased as he helped the mechanic back under her covers, knowing she couldn't talk back with the thermometer in her mouth. "I mean, poor Al, had to sleep on that hard ass bed downstairs I'm not getting any sleep at all taking care of you..." He knew she couldn't be so sick because her growl and angry eyes were proof her temper still existed.

"Two minutes, kids." Pinako withdrew the thermometer from the girl's pale lips and held it up to the lamp to read the gauge. "Thirty-nine degrees centigrade." She placed the contaminated glass on the bedside table, knowing she'd be using it again. "Girl, diamonds to dough-nuts you have influenza."

"That's bad, isn't it?" Ed sat at the foot of the bed while the old woman pilfered through her bag and brought out a brown packet.

"Can be, but it depends on the strain." She ripped the paper and dumped the contents – a white power into a glass Winry always kept by her bedside. Next she poured some of the water from the pitcher, just enough to moisten the substance and she swirled the glass around with a twitch of her wrist. "Here, get this all down." She placed the glass to Winry's lips and helped her drink the bitter medicine.

"Ick." Winry made a face but swallowed. "Acetylsalicylic acid?" She smacked her dry lips trying to get the bitter taste to dissipate.

"Aspirin, huh?" Ed remarked.

"Yes, Edward." Pinkako smiled, she knew Edward most likely knew the chemical composition of the drug from his alchemy training, but she felt great pride in her granddaughter for knowing the medicine by proper name _and _by taste. She tossed the used paper into the trash bin and reached into the bag and brought out two cloth masks. Pinako donned one and handed the other to Ed. "From now on, we wear these in this room, got it?"

"Uh, yeah." Ed covered his nose and mouth with the cloth and tied the straps around the back of his head. He didn't like wearing it, but could tell the old lady was serious about it.

"And, you will wash your hands with soap and hot water before entering this room and upon leaving this room, got it?" It was more a command than a question.

"Yes ma'am." He may now have a good two feet in height over the old woman, but she still scared him sometimes.

"Good. She'll need another packet in four hours. And, she'll need to keep drinking lots of water...which is going to be hard because she keeps throwing up." She put her hand to her face and paced in thought. "We'll have to do this like we do for infants or I'm going to have to start an intravenous drip."

"Huh?" Winry managed as her grandmother brought a rubber handled dropper syringe from the bag.

"Two droppers full of water every few minutes should keep her hydrated." She handed the dropper to Ed. "That'll be your job squirt." She started giggling at the double meaning.

"Me?" Ed began to protest. Why did he have to be the one missing his sleep?

"Yes you." She began walking toward the door. "I have a feeling we are in for a tough few days and this old doctor needs her sleep!" She shot the two a serious look. "Wake me if her temperature goes up and don't forget, another packet in four hours." She shut the door.

"Sorry about this." Winry attempted a smile but her stomach made a horrendous gurgling sound and before she could warn him, she retched up over the side of her bed.

"Great." The young man sighed and sidestepped the watery goo on the hardwood and left to retrieve some towels to clean it up.

"I think I just threw up the medicine." She fell back on her pillow in defeat.

"Well, then you're gonna have-ta take some more!" Ed used a large towel to wipe up the vomit and wrapped it yuck side down and set it aside to take downstairs later. He marched with heavy footsteps back to the bathroom and washed his hands, then returned the same way.

"You're probably keeping Alphonse awake with all your stomping." Winry had to get in a jab.

"Really? And you think anyone could sleep through all your loud hoarking and yacking?" He rifled through the bag and found the box of aspirin powders Pinako had opened earlier. "You better hold this one down." Edward ripped the top off the paper packet and poured the white powder in Winry's glass, then splashed in cold water. He swirled the glass and handed it to the smiling blonde.

Winry took the glass with a huff and downed the medicine a second time and set the glass back on her nightstand. "You probably want to bring me a basin...and some soda crackers if you don't want me to throw up again." She fell back into her soft pillow. Edward didn't move, he just scowled at her and the thought of traveling once more downstairs and washing his hands yet again. "Well?"

"Yeah, yeah...if you weren't sick, you know none of this would be happening, right?" He trudged his weary body toward the bedroom door once more stopping only to turn the handle. He was sure Winry was getting a kick out of his servitude, but deep down, if it make her feel better, he'd still accommodate her.

"I know." Her stomach churned again. She didn't feel like throwing any more sass.

"Hmph." Ed grumbled and went downstairs _yet again_ to fetch the basin. After rifling through a cupboard in the surgery room, he found the tin kidney bean shaped container and walked into the pantry and found a sleeve of wax-paper wrapped soda crackers. He tossed the crackers in the for-now clean vomit basin and step-clanked on his metal foot back upstairs. After stopping at the bathroom to wash his hands, he entered Winry's room. "Okay, here you go..." The sight of the mechanic sleeping stopped him from finishing his sentence. Edward silently slipped to to her bedside and set the basin down on the nightstand. He readjusted the cloth mask covering his mouth and nose and pulled up the chair from her workbench until he could sit right next to her as she slept.

Ed didn't like what he saw. Winry was pale, like a sheet hanging on the line-her face had no color. Instead of sleeping peacefully, she occasionally grimaced and scrunched her nose. Had she not been ill, he may have adored the faces she made, but now, now they worried him.


	2. Role Reversal

**11/1/14 A/N: Having been struck with some sort of creeping crud of a head cold myself, I've had all too much inspiration to work on this story.**

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**Chapter 2: Role Reversal**

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Alphonse ate his oatmeal in silence. The only one at the kitchen table, he also ate alone. It frustrated him to no end that he could not help as Winry lay ill upstairs. All the alchemical knowledge he maintained in his brain and none of it a bit of use. He felt worthless. The slow step-clank of Brother's real and automail feet coming down the wooden stairs temporarily broke the boy from his malaise.

"Brother?" Like he needed to ask who it was.

"Hey." Ed's voice sounded defeated as he slowly drug himself to the kitchen and over to the stove.

"I made a new pot of coffee. I'm getting pretty good at it." Al wasn't proud at all, he'd rather not had to learn how to make the bitter drink he detested, but it fueled his brother and Pinako as they cared for Winry so he quickly learned to make it for them. Right now, it was the only thing he could do to help.

"Thanks." Ed truly appreciated the gesture. He knew Alphonse raged inside, wanting to do more. "You know, this is the only thing that's going to keep me awake today." He offered his brother a meek smile as he poured a mug of the black drink, then settled himself down in the chair across from his sibling.

"Yeah." Al cast his eyes down on his cooling cereal. "Any improvement?"

Edward's face told the tale but he had to be strong for Alphonse. "No." Ed took a quick sip of the steaming beverage, hoping the raised mug would hide his face from his brother. He felt like breaking down. "She's no longer throwing up but keeps running this fever, the aspirin doesn't seem to work anymore...and the coughing is worse." Ed set the mug down.

"Is there another drug we can give her? If we can get the raw materials, I can use alchemy to put it together." Al's voice suddenly became excited at the prospect of doing more to help his family than making coffee.

"Pinako started an intravenous drip last night, she's giving her a different medicine and fluids." He rest his head in his hands with his elbows on the table. "...brought it down to thirty-eight centigrade." Ed slowly brought his head and elbows down until they both rested on the table like a school child in time out.

Bark!

Den's loud bellow shook the brothers from their sadness. She meandered into the kitchen and sat her rump down with a thump right next to her food bowl.

"Den!" Al stood from the table and regarded the black dog. "I bet you're hungry." The boy walked to the cupboard opening the door to reveal a large burlap sack of dog food. He grabbed the worn, tin food dish from the floor adjacent and took a scoop and filled it to the brim with food and set it down. The dog began eating in appreciation. "Sorry, girl." He took his place at the table across from Edward.

"Al, I think we're going to need some extra help. I was thinking Dr. Marcoh?"

"I thought about him too, Brother." Al placed his hand under his chin and thought. "We'll have to contact General Mustang's people to see if we can be put in touch with him.

"Mustang's in Ishval with the rest of his crew...I have no idea how to reach him there." Ed rolled his head on his hands just enough to see Alphonse. "Well...most of this crew's with him." He slowly rose out of his seat and walked heavily to the telephone table in the hallway where he stowed away a tiny book of phone numbers. Upon reaching the round table, he tugged on a spherical, tarnished brass knob, pulling the tiny drawer open and removing a worn address book. Edward didn't have to rifle through the pages long before Al joined him, again, leaving his cane behind. "Ah ha." Finding the number he sought, the young man picked up the telephone with his free hand and dialed for the operator.

"Ed?" Al's question was answered by his brother waiving a hand to shush him. A few moments passed as Edward gave the number to the operator and was connected a few times until finally a voice echoed through the earpiece.

"Havoc mercantile, how can I help you?" The woman answered happily.

"Um, can I speak with Jean?"

"He's here somewhere, may I ask who's calling?"

"Tell him 'little chief.' He'll know me." Ed chuckled as he heard the woman mumbling and the phone picked up by another.

"Is this who I think it is?" Jean Havoc's strong voice rang loudly enough for Alphonse to hear causing the boy to smile with hope.

"Sure is. How are things in the East?" Ed chirped. "Are you still rolling around?"

"Hell no!" Jean chuckled. "Dr. Marcoh did his magic and I'm walking on my own now...I'll send you some pictures of the gang helping me with my PT -pain and torture therapy. When I can get rid of this walking stick I'll be fit for duty again."

"That's great to hear." Ed felt a lot better about Jean. After Lust injured him, Team Mustang lost a great member. "I have a favor to ask, deals with Marcoh."

"Shoot." Jean urged him on.

"I need to get in touch with the good doctor, my mechanic's fallen ill." He hoped his voice didn't sound too desperate.

"That cute blond girl?"

"Yeah, influenza. Can you help me get in touch with him?"

"Sorry Chief." He took a long pause. "Tim Marcoh's in Isvhal with the General and Scar."

"General?" Was he referring to the Ice Queen?

"You didn't hear. Your former commanding officer is now a General. Best I can do is get a message to them for you, I'm sorry about that."

"Damn, Mustang's getting closer to the top...like he promised." He groaned. "Jean, if you would get word to them to call me, it's getting really urgent." Edward slowly gave Havoc the Rockbell's telephone number.

"I'll pass it on today, actually Kain Fuery will once I call him. It was good to hear your voice, Edward."

"Yeah, you too. Take care." He frowned and hung up the phone. "Al, they'll get word to Marcoh and I'm sure he'll call when he gets it...I'm just worried it's gonna take too long."

"Me too, Brother."

"Edward!" Pinako's loud voice flew down the stairwell signaling an end to Ed's break. "Get up here!"

"Go on, Brother." Al smiled and took Ed's coffee mug from him. "I'll find something in the pantry to fix for lunch and dinner, you and Granny just remember to take a break and come downstairs."

"Could you heat up some chicken broth for Win?" He shrugged his shoulders. "Not that she'll eat a lot of it, but we need to try." Ed wished he didn't say that last bit out loud, he knew it only added to the worry that already filled his sensitive brother's heart.

"I...I will." Al wobbled into the kitchen and found Winry's cooking apron and tugged it on as Edward pulled his own weary body up the stairs.

* * *

Edward washed his hands with the strong and smelly soap and tugged on the horribly hot mask. He reached for Winry's door handle and dreaded entering her room. For once, he hoped to see her sitting up, smiling in the morning sunshine and berating him for poor automail maintenance. Instead, his vision was assaulted by the all-too-familiar sight of a pale girl prostrate upon sheets almost the same color as her skin as Pinako wiped her forehead with a damp cloth. His shoulders dropped further and he took his place on the wooden chair placed at the foot of her bed.

"She's lost weight." Ed hated to admit it. Winry never was waif-thin. Working with metals and lugging parts around made her body mostly lean muscle – something he secretly admired every time he could without being caught. Now, a week in bed with no appetite caused her to appear so much smaller.

"Yes." Pinako agreed. "If she'd just keep the fever down long enough, she'd be able to keep food in her belly. I've adjusted her fluids some to give her some nutrients." She gazed upon the IV stand at the head of the bed and which was tethered to Winry's right arm.

"Are there no other drugs we could give her to help? I mean, even if you don't have them, if we knew the chemical composition, Al could put them together, I'm sure."

"Ed, I have all that they'd use in any hospital...it's the virus. The damn thing has to run its course." She looked so tired and frail herself.

"Granny, go lay down, let me tend to her." He stood up and motioned to the older woman to do the same. "Please?" The elderly woman answered with a sigh and got up from her chair.

"Call me if it gets any higher, ok?" She handed him the thermometer.

"I will. Al's making lunch. Why don't you sleep and he'll call you to eat and I'll bring something up for Win." Ed's golden eyes seemed so calm, they betrayed the worry tearing up his insides

"Ok, then." She smiled at her grand daughter before slowly making her way out of the room. Ed took Pinko's place at her chair which was closer to Winry.

"Winry?" He picked up a white cloth resting in a white ceramic coated metal basin filled with cool water. Ed wrung it and gently patted the mechanic's head. She turned to him.

"Hey." The girl muttered.

"Good, glad to see you up. Are you hungry?" He knew she wasn't.

"No...but will try...later."

"Al's become quite the cook, you don't want to hurt his feelings, do you?" Ed joked.

"Never." Was all she could utter. Her eyes moved up to meet his own, only hers were red. She'd been crying.

"Win?" Ed left the cool rag on her forehead and he took her hand in both of his. "Why were you crying?"

"Sorry." She moaned. "Hoped you'd not see. Just tired of being in bed." She lied. Really, she and Pinako had an exhausting talk about things after Ed left the room earlier. Winry didn't want him to know they talked about what she wanted of them should she not survive.

"Oh." He emphasized with that, but didn't thing that was really why she cried. But he remembered that the week in Central Hospital after the battle with the Slicer brothers in Lab Five pretty much ruined bed rest for him too. "Well, if you'd cooperate and bring that fever down a little, maybe we could bundle you up and sit on the balcony a little." He knew that was also a pretty lie and so did she.

"That'd be nice." She tried her best not to cry again. "Ed?"

"Hmm?"

"I want to see Alphonse." Too late, the tears fell.

"You...you know it's dangerous for him."

"I know, he...he could stand at the door with a mask. It's just...just."

"Don't say it!" Edward started to get mad. He figured her out as quickly as she did him. "Don't you dare say it!"

"But, Ed."

"Don't fucking 'but, Ed,' me. You are not going to fucking die!" How could she think that? He was so mad at her, he felt like smashing something. Winry met his ranting with quiet laughter. This only made him more angry. "Why are you laughing at me?"

"Silly me." She tried to smile. "Just thinking about that morning you left for Central for the Promised Day." She thought of their own fight only that time Ed doubted himself.

"Uh, yeah?"

"I told you about the same thing." Ironically their roles reversed. "I'm sorry I doubted myself now." Her smile almost appeared normal.

"You better be sorry." He sat back down, still holding her hand. "You're not going to die, not now." Edward spat the words as if he really had any power to stop her death, even without alchemy.

"Edward, I will do my very best...to get better..." Her eyes turned serious.

"Damn right you will."

"...but you're going to have to get yourself ready...get Alphonse ready...for the worst." Before Ed could curse any further, Winry launched into a coughing fit so severe she couldn't catch her breath. The former alchemist was prepared as she'd done this before. He fitted the oxygen cannula to her nose and twisted the nozzle to the tank on the floor until the gas flowed and helped her breathe better. Ed hoped he'd not have to use the mask as she made such a fuss about it the last time. Winry finally settled back down and used the cloth that fell from her forehead, to wipe her mouth. She cleared her throat to finish. "I'm sorry to hit you with the truth, but it is what it is."

"I'm working on Al." Damn Winry for being so pragmatic about all of this. Suddenly, the vision of his own mother laying on her death bed and telling him where the money was and what he needed to after she was gone came flying smack into his head. "But it's nonsense and you know it. You are the strongest woman I know...stronger...stronger than my own mother even." He grit his teeth to finish. "You're not going to die so just quit even considering it." To Ed, that was that and an end to this conversation. He noticed the girl had closed her eyes, the coughing and conversation evidently used up the little strength she had.

"I'm still alive." She startled him. "Just very tired. Gonna take a nap."

"Good. I'll be here." He took the cloth again, re-wet and wrung it and once more placed it on her forehead.

"When I wake up, I'll try to eat." With those words, she fell fast asleep.

"Wonderful, Al'd be happy to hear that." Ed resumed his valiant watch over his ill mechanic and all the while tried to push the horrific thoughts of her dying out of his stubborn head. Finally, he whispered to no one but his own ears. "Tim Marcoh, you'd better come quick."

Like a knife to his gut, the ringing telephone from downstairs broke his melancholy.


	3. Health

**12/1/14: I didn't want this to be Ed and Winry in love - yet. This takes place the winter after the boy's returned home to Resembool and Ed and Winry hadn't yet expressed their feelings to each other. Because they're both dorks about it, I imagine it was a slow, long process of "unintended" courting and flirting during the two years Alphonse recovered. I'd so love it if Arakawa did another manga about that time. I'm sure it'd be filled with family issues, running a home and automail business, dabbles with the military, a few adventures all the while Ed and Winry sidestepped around how they felt for each other. Le sigh. **

**.**

**.**

**Chapter 3: Health**

.

Alphonse, still clad in Winry's pink apron, ran to the telephone. This small burst of energy left the young man out of breath. He knew their friends in the military would come through and that Dr. Marcoh would be returning Ed's call. He inhaled deeply as his still-thin hand picked up the telephone.

"Hello?"

"Alphonse?" Tim Marcoh's voice garbled over the line-definitely a "patched in" call and most likely Kain Fuery's handiwork.

"Yes! It's me, Dr. Marcoh!" He felt his knees couldn't support him so he sat down in an adjacent chair.

"I understand Ms. Rockbell is ill, influenza?" He cleared his throat. "How long?"

"Yes...for nine days so far."

"Fever?"

"Um, yeah. We cannot get it down. It has been..." His brother's voice interrupted the call.

"Hey Al?" Ed scurried to the top of the stairs still wearing his mask and having not washed his hands yet. "Is that Marcoh?"

"Yes, Brother!" Alphonse was about to finish telling the doctor about Winry's condition when Marcoh interrupted.

"Alphonse, I understand that Winry's grandmother is a surgeon. I need to speak with her, if that's possible?" He hoped this wouldn't upset the boy, but he really needed to speak with the physician taking care of the girl.

"Um, yeah, just a minute." He gently set the receiver by the phone and dashed to the bottom of the stairwell. Looking up and seeing his concerned brother he spoke loudly. "He needs to speak with Granny..."

"Who needs me?" Pinako emerged from her room and started descending the stairs.

"It's Dr. Tim Marcoh, Granny." Ed piped in through his cloth mask. "He's also an alchemist and has one of the last philosopher's stones the military created." He closed his eyes, thankful for the technology that allowed the good doctor to call them all the way from Ishval. "We think he could use it to cure Winry."

"Then I need to speak with him." She closed the short distance from the end of the stairs to the telephone table and picked up the receiver. Al and Ed listened carefully as Pinako gave a precise medical description of Winry's symptoms and the medications she had been given. Then she stood there emotionless as the doctor spoke to her, his words unheard by the brothers. After a long while she sighed and began again. "No, Edward is at the top of the stairs, he's not washed up and should not be around Alphonse until he is."

"Alphonse shouldn't be in that house!" Marcoh's voice carried so loudly that the younger Elric heard. "I treated him before the boys left for home, I know he still in a weakened state."

"No!" Al rushed forward. "Tell, him, tell him Granny!" His sad eyes pleaded. "That I've gained almost thirty pounds since the spring!"

"Thirty pounds of pure muscle!" Edward hollered down the stairwell hearing half of the conversation and proud of the hard work his brother endured to build up his body.

"That may be." Marcoh continued. "But I knew how much he weighed when he left central and adding thirty pounds – he's still underweight for a young man his age. His immune system couldn't last influenza."

"You are correct." Pinako pushed her glasses up. "But, many folks here have been stricken with this illness – there are not many households without a family member sick. There's not exactly many places Al could go. We have him sequestered on the first floor. Ed and I are taking strict precautions..."

"I hope so." He knew there was no talking them out of it. "May I speak with him? With Al?"

"Just a minute." She took the clean tissue she'd been holding and wiped down the receiver and handed it to Alphonse.

"Yes?"

"Al, I can make there in two days. It would be sooner, but unfortunately I'm also treating a lot of people here with what sounds like the same virus."

"That'd be wonderful!" His eyes lit up with the prospect of the alchemist and doctor saving Winry as he did Havoc and Mustang.

"But, I knew Miss Winry. Does she know the implications of using a philosopher's stone? Does she know and is she alright with it? I'm only asking because you brothers, you _knew._ You both never wanted to use souls, so I'm surprised you've turned to me for help now." He didn't sound unkind at all, he only wanted to make sure that Winry wanted to use the stone.

"I, I never considered what she'd want." Panic surged through the young man's mind. They'd just assume Winry wanted to get well and since medicine wasn't getting her well she'd let them use alchemy. "We are so stupid."

"Go, explain it to your brother and have him ask her. I'll call back in ten minutes to see what you want me to do."

"Alright...thank you." He set the receiver down on the phone and allowed his shoulders to fall. He knew exactly what Winry would want. "Ed!" Alphonse yelled up the stairwell. "I need you to wash up and get down here." His golden eyes met those of the aged woman in his presence. "We have to talk about something quickly."

* * *

Edward dreaded the conversation he embarked upon. Having discussed it with Alphonse and Pinako, he trudged upstairs, washed his hands again and tugged the cloth mask from the nail he'd put just outside Winry's door. The young man tied the cloth around his head and turned the brass knob to enter his mechanic's room.

As the door opened, again, he hoped to see her sitting up in the warm glow of the sun. The all-too-familiar sight of her slight form enrobed in blankets and asleep dashed his high hopes. The young man trudged to her beside and sat down in the wooden chair he'd swore to demolish when this ordeal was over. Ed scrutinized the girl's pale face: the last coughing fit forced them to use the oxygen mask instead of the cannula; and despite the fever she chilled and shivered in her sleep. He gently shook her shoulder to rouse her and Winry slowly opened her blue eyes.

The mechanic gazed up at the blond man, a man who lovingly stared down at her. Suddenly overjoyed at seeing him, she smiled and hardly could believe it. It had been years, after all. She remember that smile, every time she had an illness or hurt, that smile made it better. HE made it better. His EYES made it better. The soft blue eyes she also possessed twinkled down with utmost love and affection.

"Dad?"

Ed backed off, stunned at her words. Her eyes were wide opened yet, she behaved as one still caught up in a dream. "No. Winry, I'm not Urey." Edward frowned. He half wished he were her father, the doctor and surgeon. If Urey and Pinako worked together, they'd cure Winry but he had no such illusions of himself, only doubt.

"Oh." She squinted as her father's lovely azure eyes changed. As if someone poured liquid gold into a blue glass, his eyes and then his face morphed back into the owner of the voice she just recognized as Edward. Winry became agitated as she understood the significance of her error. "Ed. Please don't tell Granny or Al." She relaxed a little in her pillow. "I mean, it's the fever. I'm afraid it's affecting my brain." The girl said this with all seriousness.

"I have to tell them, you know that." Ed frowned. "It's a new symptom." He gently rubbed circles in her shoulder with his left hand. "Listen, Win, Dr. Marcoh called...remember I was telling you about contacting him?"

Winry scrunched her nose but happily remembered that conversation. "Yes. He has a philosopher's stone."

"Right. He can be here in a few days to...you know, heal you up using the stone." Ed didn't want to explain it because he knew what Winry's answer was going to be.

"Edward, you, you make it sound like that's not a good thing?" She didn't understand the underlying sad tone of the young man's voice

"Listen. Remember what the stone is made of, right?" His amber eyes searched hers for understanding and he saw it building. "Souls of criminals who had no choice when the military used them to make it." He lowered his eyes. "Souls that serve as the energy for the transmutation that bypasses equivalent exchange..."

"But...but Roy Mustang, and Havoc...you said Marcoh healed them and he's healing people in Ishval with it right now?"

"Yes, he is. But Mustang and Havoc made their own choice to use the souls for their recovery. And, Marcoh says he has an obligation to explain it to his patients not familiar with alchemy so they can make their own decision too."

"And...and he's giving me the same choice." She closed her eyes. "Recover using up unwilling souls or not." Winry turned her head to Edward. "Dummy, did you really need to ask?" The girl smiled.

"Please, Win!" Urgency made Edward lean closer. "Al and I won't think bad of you for it! We don't harbor any hateful feelings for the others, hell, I had to use Envy's philosopher's stone to get out of Gluttony's stomach." He winced at the memory.

"Please. Don't give me that crap." Her anger sparked some hope in the ex alchemist. "You and Alphonse's swore not to use any souls to get your bodies back...I remember so much! Do you think I could be a hypocrite about that belief?" She reached up to squeeze his hand. "I'm sorry if I believe that too." Her smile made his insides squirm with nervous affection.

"We don't like it." Ed huffed and crossed his arms. "Other people are sick in Resembool, Dr. Marcoh coming here to help you could mean he could help others too." He knew it was a long shot, but felt he needed to try to sway her on the prospect of helping others too.

"Then tell him to come, but I've made up my mind." She turned her head.

"Damn it." Ed shot up from his chair. "I'll tell Al." The ringing telephone made them both jump. "Be right back."

* * *

Pinako Rockbell made her rounds in the withering garden looking for any edibles they'd missed in harvest. Her basket contained some nice potatoes and some teeny tomatoes and squash the cold weather and rain had not spoiled. Sweat stained her wrinkled brow and she cursed the unusual late October heatwave Resembool suffered. Her porch thermometer read 23 degrees centigrade when she left the house and it sure felt hotter now that she'd worked a little. The surgeon had already chucked the seed corn to her chickens but decided to rest a bit outside their pen. She lumbered with her produce basket to the stump of an old tree her late husband fell some fifty odd years earlier and she sat down with a satisfactory 'oomph.' This particular stump Ed used to split the logs for their fireplace and wood stoves. She grunted at the pile of wood still needing chopping and knowing that wasn't going to happen any time soon.

Pinako had lived long enough to know all sorts of hardships and she'd stormed right through them to the other side every single time. She'd lived through the death of her husband and later her son and his wife. She'd helped comfort poor Trisha Elric as she left this world and leaving her wonderful sons alone. She raised the boys as best she could along side Winry. Even the shock of seeing Ed's small body lacking his arm and leg and covered in blood didn't sway her- she just always knew what she needed to do and did it. But now, now the old woman did not want to go back inside the house because she dreaded finding out about her granddaughter's decline.

Nothing ever improved. Winry only grew worse and worse each day.

"Damn it." She swore to her chickens. Pinako didn't want to think of a world without Winry or Winry leaving it before she did. The boy's didn't know these thoughts and she sure as hell wasn't going to let them know. Sometimes, she thought about how Winry's death would affect Edward and Al, mostly Edward. She cursed again, breaking those thoughts up and washing them from her brain. Before she realized what was happening, her cheek felt wet. A tear. She smeared it across her face with the back of her hand just in time to see Alphonse saunter up the dirt road on his way back from the market.

"Granny?" He'd seen it with his own eyes. Never before in his whole life, no matter how bad anything got he'd never ever seen Pinako shed a single tear.

"Oh can it, Alphonse!' The old woman knew she'd been caught and handled it the same way she did everything, right up front. "Just worried about Winry, that's all." She took notice of the boy using his crutch again and pulling the groceries with their cart. "I'm sorry you had to walk all that way, thank you for that, Alphonse." She managed a grateful smile.

"It's nothing...I need to move my legs every now and then." Al smiled back at her as they both strolled toward the kitchen door to make unloading the cart easier. "Hey, did you know Stalwar's Mercantile has a brand new walk in freezer?" The proprietor had been so proud, she gave each customer a tour, including the young Elric. "She has beef, lamb of course, and frozen dinners! Can you imagine, dinners you put in the oven and heat and eat!" He suddenly felt hungry. "She gave me a sample of the ice cream they had delivered, though it's odd to have ice cream in the winter...even as hot as it is today."

"Sounds very exciting."

"It was. I can't help think that Winry'd enjoy checking out the mechanisms to it when she feels better." His optimistic tone betrayed the reality of the girl in the house.

"We'll have to persuade them to let her check it out soon." Pinako truly hoped this would happen.

"Granny, I passed Mr. Brown on the road."

"How is he?"

"Not good." Alphonse cringed, he shouldn't have brought this up but had to tell her now. "His son-in-law passed away last night. He'd asked if Edward could be a pall-bearer. I told him about Winry and he said for Ed not to worry about it."

"Did his son-in law have influenza too?" She knew the answer.

"Yes." Alphonse was thankful Edward made him wear his mask to the store and back. "He said they never could get the fever to come down." Al felt really sick to his stomach.

"Between me and the town doctor, we've seen a lot of people with fevers, Alphonse." She sighed at all the late night calls received since this epidemic hit their tiny burgh.

"Oh."

"We have to be vigilant with Winry and we are doing just that." Indeed, she was proud of the care that Edward had been giving her granddaughter and everything Alphonse did to keep the house running so she and Ed could give Winry that care.

The younger Elric opened the kitchen door and set his crutch inside. He figured he'd be ok to carry in groceries so he and Pinako filled their hands with the brown paper grocery bags and took them inside. After a while of putting odds and ends up in the refrigerator and the pantry, Pinako suddenly stopped and huffed.

"Darn it, left the garden basket at the coop."

"Don't worry, I'll go get it?" Al was out the door without his crutch before the old woman could think twice.

Walking briskly toward the coop and the stump, Alphonse spied the well-worn basket used for as long as he could remember to haul garden vegetables. He plucked it up and turned to walk back to the house when he heard a soft sound from the front. The boy came around the corner and heard someone humming a familiar tune, yet it was one he couldn't quite place. Gaining a closer vantage of the Rockbell house, his stomach fluttered as he found the source. Winry stood on her balcony clad in her white linen nightgown. Her hair lay tangled down to her shoulders with bangs plastered across her sweaty forehead. Alphonse could see the shadow of her dwindling body through the white fabric, she was painfully thin.

"Winry!"

The girl turned to see him, or at least the source of her name. Her blue eyes landed upon his amber ones but Al found no sense of recognition upon her seeing him. For a second they stood there – Winry on the balcony, Al on the ground. Suddenly, the girl crumpled to the floor, like a porcelain doll thrown away by a child.

"Brother!" Adrenaline kicked in and Alphonse shot toward the front door not realizing what happened to the basket no longer in his hands. "Granny!" He ran straight up the stairs and barreled into Winry's room disrupting his brother who had fallen asleep leaning back in his chair.

"What the hell?" Edward screamed as his brother's shouts awoke him. "What's the bid deal?"

"Winry, Brother!" Al stopped just at the threshold and pointed toward the open sliding glass doors.

"Win!" Edward wasted no more time and flew to the body laying on the balcony, scooping her up and depositing her back on her bed. "Winry! Wake up!" He felt her forehead and she burned with fever, hotter than he remembered. Edward grabbed the thermometer and held it in her mouth.

"Ed?" Al entered the room further with much trepidation.

"Get back Alphonse!" Ed's hard glare served to push the younger back to the hallway to watch. Pinako had made her way upstairs and hurried past Al and into the room. She wasted no time wringing a damp cloth and applying it to Winry's head. "How long has she been like this?

"Not a minute, Granny!" Al yelled from the hallway. "I heard her humming and came around front, she fell just as soon as I saw her."

"I fell asleep." He hated himself for that. "She got past me then." He rolled the thermometer around in the girl's mouth to try to read the gauge.

"Don't fret now, Edward." Pinako patted his hand. "Just concentrate on her."

"Forty-one degrees." He felt the bile rising in his throat. This was bad. Really bad.

"We've got to cool her down fast." Pinako turned toward Alphonse. "Can you fill the bathtub up with cold water?" The old woman knew little to nothing about Alchemy other than it often led to horrific endings – such as Edward losing his limbs and everyone almost dying on the Promised Day. But, she knew enough to understand that Al could do something as simple as change cool water to cold, frozen water and that Winry really need that right now. "Can you change it to ice?"

"You bet I can!" Alphonse's golden eyes sparkled. At last he was given a task he could really do to help Winry. He turned on the ball of his foot and scurried the few feet down the hallway to the bathroom.

"Edward." Pinako heard the water running. "I'll need you to carry her and put her in the tub." She moved to the doorway. "Al!" The old woman yelled. "Make sure it's broken up!"

"Got it!" The boy answered.

"I've got her." Ed had the unconscious girl ready. Her body burned in his arms. They heard the water stop running then two separate ringing sounds – evidence that Al had finished the transmutation.

"It's ready!" The younger Elric screamed.

"Get out of there, Al! Hurry and get downstairs!" Pinako was already worried that the boy had been too close to the sick girl, she couldn't risk him in the closed quarters of their bathroom with Winry. "C'mon, Ed get her in the tub."

It took all of of two seconds for the young man to whisk his precious bundle of Winry wrapped in her bed linens into the bathroom and into the tub now filled with ice. His worried eyes searched the girl's face for any sign of improvement but the only response she offered was labored breathing.

"How long?"

"If it's going to work, it will be soon." Pinako brought with her the mercury thermometer and after shaking it vigorously, she plucked it in Winry's mouth. "The problem is that it is just too warm in the house today. I'm not sure this is going to cool her down adequately." She gazed at her wristwatch. A thought shot into her head. "Stalwar's." The woman uttered quietly.

"What?" Ed couldn't hear what she said.

"She needs enveloped in cold." Pinako removed the thermometer and shook her head. "Ice isn't enough, Ed." She showed him that Winry's temperature hadn't fallen. "We need to get her to the walk in freezer at Stalwar's...Al said they just got it."

"Say no more." Ed didn't ask why or how, he just scooped Winry back up in his arms and slung her warm body over his shoulder to carry her safely down the stairs. "Al, stay outta our way!" He yelled, hoping his brother wasn't near. He and Winry were out the front door before Alphonse could even ask.

"Where are they going?" The younger Elric questioned Pinako as she made her way to the first floor.

"The deep freeze at the market. Winry needs it." She made her way to the door. "Oh, crap! I forgot my bag." She turned to go back upstairs, but Alphonse brushed past her.

"I'll get it!"

* * *

Run. His mind kept staunch on one thing: running. He couldn't drop the precious bundle slung over his shoulder as he ran toward town. Even wrapped in a thin sheet, Winry's body heat burned the skin on his shoulder. Edward tried to dodge the pot holes and ruts the horse carts made in the dirt road and he was glad his cardiovascular system still worked at peak despite him "lazing about" while Al convalesced. He couldn't let the fever win, couldn't give up on Winry because, well, she never gave up on him or his brother.

"I'm going to be sick." Her voice seemed so small and weak but Ed heard her and slowed down to a stop.

"Here." He gently let her body slide down his own and lowered them both to the ground sitting. "If you need to, go, but make it quick." His eyes were wide with concern as droplets of sweat fell about his face. He'd let his mask fall down to his neck. Without further prodding, the girl retched and wiped her mouth with the sheet.

"Done." She didn't even try to smile.

"Ok." Edward scooped her up with an arm under her knees and the other around her back. "We're almost there." He could see the small cluster of buildings that made up Resembool's "downtown." The boy started running again, this time faster and ignoring the holes in the road. His feet seemed to skim the air just above the dirt as he ran. He realized small movement at his chest and felt Winry's feverish head resting directly on his heart. She nimbly tucked his mask back behind his ears and pulled the white cloth up over his nose and mouth.

"...can't let you get sick too."

"Yeah." He couldn't believe her. Even in her worst, her sickest she still worried about others – worried about _him_. Before long, Edward could see the shop window of Stalwar's, a window that held a neon-gas filled sign. His heart fell as the sign blazed "closed." Nope. That wasn't going to stop him.

"Son of a Bitch!" Edward cursed as he carried Winry to the glass shop door. He expected her to scold him for his language but when he looked down at her face, she was asleep...or passed out, he couldn't tell.

More gently than before, the young man placed the girl down on the wooden decking in front of the store. He knew she'd be pissed at what he was about to do, but he knew that Alphonse was close behind him and his brother could fix anything he broke. Without much more thought than that, he drove his left leg through the glass door shattering the lower pane. Ed then reached through the jagged glass and unlocked the door.

"Ouch!" The boy yelped as a shard of glass cut his left hand just above this thumb. He knew it would be a minor wound so he turned to pick up his friend and they both entered the store.

The former alchemist had never seen a walk in freezer before. He figured the hotels in Central and the military dining halls had them, but it truly was a big deal for a small town like Resembool to have such a thing. Scanning the back of the store, behind the counter, he spied a heavy-looking steel door and bolted toward it. Ed found the handle and it was blessedly cold. He opened the door, leaving a bloody hand print. Finally, he and Winry made their destination and finding a pallet of frozen food in the center of the room, he carefully spread her body on top and took a seat beside her.

"Winry?" She did not respond. Ed took a ripped edge of her sheet and tore off a strip to bind the cut on this thumb. He didn't want to bleed over everything, after all. It was about this time the young man felt the numbing cold of the room and noticed the vapor of his cold breath. He wasn't quite sure what to do so sat and absentmindedly rubbed her arm.

"Ok, automail freak, I've got your hot head in a freezer...so...so...you better cool off!" Edward wasn't sure where the anger came from he just felt so mad. Not mad at the girl, but he felt angry he was so helpless and normally if he felt that way in the mechanic's presence they fought. Yet now, she couldn't really fight back, so he resolved to have his end of the fight out loud just for the principle of the thing.

"What? Got nothing to say back?" He growled. "Of course you do!" Ed stood up for emphasis and paced the small room.

"Tell me I'm stupid for worrying about you!" Her face didn't move. "Tell me if I'd taken better care of my leg we would have gotten here faster!" Ed barely saw her breath in the cold room. "Call me an alchemy freak!" The former alchemist plopped back down on the edge of the pallet and gripped both the girl's shoulders. "Winry! Please! Call me a name! Hit me with a bag of vegetables!" The young man let his shoulders fall in defeat. He didn't notice the yells and shouts coming from inside the store nor did he see the angry face glaring at his back from the freezer door window.

"What are you doing here?" A mustachioed man holding a garden hoe filled up the open doorway but the young man paid him no heed. "Is that Miss Rockbell?"

"C'mon Winry!" Edward pleaded. "You'd never let me give in to something as stupid as a teeny tiny virus so I'm not gonna let you! I mean, I was ran through with a fucking POLE and I still came home...I came home to you!" He raked his hand through is bangs, his hair growing crispy as the perspiration in it froze.

"Honey, it's Winry Rockbell and one of the Elric boys...something's wrong with her." The man yelled over his shoulder. "Can you get Pinako on the phone?" A woman answered.

"Goddammit Winry! Don't you dare give up!" Edward shouted a the girl's body as if the volume of his voice would scatter the infection from her. "Don't...don't give up..." He let his head fall on her shoulder. "Dont...don't forget all the people who need you! Don't forget the people who need you to make their arms and legs, so they can walk and work and live...like you did for me. Dont...don't forget..."

"Edward?" The boy heard Pinako's voice but he didn't move from Winry. The old woman came into the freezer and placed her warm hand on the back of Edward's neck. She heard Alphonse's sweet voice explaining what happened to the store's owners and that he'd fix the door. "Ed...please let me see her."

"Granny?" The boy moved just slightly aside so Pinako could take Winry's temperature and vital signs. He watched with terror as the woman placed the thermometer in the girl's lips and felt for her pulse. They both turned to Winry as a garbled sound came from the girl's mouth, the words hampered by the mercury thermometer. "What was that?" Pinako answered by plucking the instrument from the mechanic's lips.

"Could'a brought me a coat...Ed. Dumb-ass."

* * *

Winry finally conquered that terrible fever and by the time the first snows fell, the horrible influenza epidemic eventually passed over Resembool. Stalwar's Mercantile offered the use of their freezer to anyone who needed it and thankfully casualties remained minimal. Despite caring for the sick girl, neither Edward, Alphonse or Pinako contracted the virus and became ill. However, it took the mechanic nearly three weeks to build her strength back up before she was able to return to her automail work and both she and Al remained painfully thin.

Ed brought in a bundle of firewood and shook snow from his hair. He hung up his coat on the peg by the kitchen door and removed his heavy boots, leaving them in the tray under the peg. The young man smiled as Winry and his brother sat at the kitchen table, the room warm and cozy heated by the glow of the iron stove and the wood he had time to chop before the snow fell. Pinako decided to make red velvet cookies that day, infusing the batter with extra eggs and butter to fatten up her granddaughter and adopted grandson. The younger Elric and the mechanic took turns dolloping the sweet batter on cookie trays with equal parts of batter also deposited directly into their mouths.

"Hey Ed?" Winry ushered the cold young man to sit next to her. "Do you like red velvet cookies?"

"Uh, sure." He smiled back at his family. But before he could burn the happy scene into his memory forever, Winry splat a spoonful of batter on his nose. Alphonse almost squealed with laughter.

"Like them now?" Her smile oozed with mirth, the mischievousness of youth and of _health_.

"Yeah, still do." He wiped the sweet goo off his nose with his index finger and took a lick, then smeared the remainder, slobber and all on Winry's forehead.

"Oh, it's on, alchemy freak!"

Alphonse nearly peed his pants.

-fin


End file.
